Marbled Surprise
by Tomopi
Summary: The seconds were ticking down, slowly, while Stiles stared at his mole-dotted left wrist.


The seconds were ticking down, slowly, while Stiles stared at his mole-dotted left wrist.

"What do you think? How high will your countdown be?"

Stiles looked up from the pale, almost white, zeros littering his wrist and looked over to Scott who slumped down next to him on the couch.

"I have no idea. Maybe I won't even have a countdown. Or it stays pale because my soulmate is dead already. Who knows."

Scott scowled slightly, put his hand on Stiles shoulder and squeezed slightly.

"Hey, no dark thoughts here. You'll turn 18 in a couple hours and your countdown will start just like everyone else's."

Stiles smiled slightly, nodded.

"If you say so, buddy. The others are coming over?"

A grin spread over Scott's face.

"Of course they are. We have a betting pool running what your countdown will say."

"Of course you have. Let me guess: Erica?"

A sheepish grin flittered across his best friend's face.

"Actually... It was my idea. But Erica was the first one to jump at the suggestion."

Stiles smiled slightly as he made a shooing motion with his hand. He would be pestered enough this evening.

Until a few months prior Stiles couldn't wait to finally turn eighteen. He loved to hear his parent's story how they finally met, loved it when he could see other people find their soulmate. The system was pretty simplistic. Every person had seven zeros on their wrist when they were born.

[0 years 0 months 0 weeks 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds]

They were pale, looked a bit like scars. But as soon as the person turned 18 the digits and color changed. Normally the color changed to black and the countdown started. Is was great. The moment all digits hit zero again you would meet your soulmate. Sometimes the zeros stayed and only the color turned black. That meant that you already met your soulmate. But not everyone was so lucky. Sometimes the zeros stayed and the color only changed to grey. That meant that the soulmate was dead already.

Stiles never thought much about the Countdown. It wasn't important until he turned 18. But then he was invited to Heather's 18th Birthday. It was a big event for everyone, to learn how long you had to wait to finally meet your second half. But Heather's zeros didn't turn black. They turned grey. The day that should have been full of joy suddenly turned to be one of the saddest days of her life.

For the past hour Sties barely looked away from the clock on the wall hanging opposite of him. Everyone was there, talking or eating. Stiles didn't really took notice of anything around him. The second the clock ticked 08:56 p.m., the exact time he was born, he felt his left wrist grow warm. He was scared to look at his wrist but knew that he couldn't ignore it forever. With closed eyes he turned his wrist around and took a deep breath. Then he looked down at his wrist.

Oh.

"Scott?"

The werewolf turned around to his best friend and as he noticed what Stiles was staring at he grinned. He skipped over and sat down next to Stiles.

"And? How does your Countdown look?"

Instead of answering Stiles just turned his wrist for Scott to see. For a moment his best friend just stared, then he called to the others:

"Uh... Guys? Could you come and look at this?"

While Peter just stayed in his corner, his book still open on his lap, Erica was the first one at their side, Boyd close behind her.

"And? Who won? Did I win? Spill the beans, McCall!"

"I... don't know who won..."

"What are you talking about?", Lydia asked as she sat down on the other side of Stiles.

"Look for yourself...", the young man mumbled as he raised his wrist for everyone to see.

For long moments there was silence. That long in fact that Peter put his book aside and came closer to see for himself what the non-existent commotion was about. He looked over his nephew's shoulder and stilled when he saw Stiles wrist.

"Is this normal?", Stiles asked with a small voice.

He didn't look away once from his wrist. He had been scared that his zeros might turn gray but that worry sounded ridiculous now. Instead his zeros were a mix of grey and black. Not even one grey and one black zero, but marbled. He really didn't know what to think about this.

"I have never seen something like this before.", Lydia mumbled, her gaze still fixed on the marbled zeros.

"I have."

All gazes turned to Peter as if they had already forgotten that he was there in the first place.

"Where?", Stiles croaked.

Instead of answering he pulled the left sleeve of his henley high enough to show everyone his own wrist.


End file.
